ASU School of Art Director Adriene Jenik to Screen SPECFLIC 1.9 at SMoCA Lounge This Friday

On Friday, telecommunications media artist Adriene Jenik will screen the latest iteration of SPECFLIC, a multifaceted project she's been working with since 2005.

After taking a position as the director of the ASU School of Art in 2009, Jenik has become quite familiar with the setting of her latest piece.

"SPECFLIC 1.9 is an experimental narrative [58:00, 2013] that tracks the happenings within a public research university [YouSee U] in the year 2030," she says. "The story pulls on the threads of various isolated 'storylines' that I've observed over my years working within these institutions and casts them into this near future scenario."

Earlier versions of SPECFLIC were shown in public spaces, with the idea of creating a spectacle, according to the artist.

As such, SPECFLIC 1.0 and SPECFLIC 2.0 allowed Jenik to play with what she has termed distributed social cinema, a non-traditional form of experiencing film "that proposes to use all the potential of a gathered crowd with various electronic devices to convey the story."

Though SPECFLIC 1.9 will take a more traditional form, the piece is still inspired by speculative cinema like Jean-Luc Godard's Alphaville, says Jenik.

"I am a big fan of speculative fiction and also experimental literature," she says. "Speculative fiction being . . . works that extend from a recognizable world and help us reflect on societal issues we are grappling with now."

SPECFLIC 1.9 works in this precise manner, urging us to rethink present issues by way of experiencing imagined futures on film. It's a trip you will not want to miss.

There will be two screenings of SPECFLIC 1.9 at the SMoCA Lounge on Friday, April 12, at 6 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.. The screening is free, but seating is limited, so RSVP to SMoCALounge@sccarts.org to reserve a spot.